Cooper
A. Background on the author
Born 1789, James Fennimore Cooper was born in Burlington, New Jersey. His family soon established itself near Lake Otsego in central New York, in what is now called Cooperstown. His father Judge William Cooper was a wealthy landowner and judge, but the Cooperstown of the time was something akin to a frontier settlement. James attended Yale at the age of thirteen, but was expelled in his third year (1805) for committing several pranks. He worked on sailing ships, merchant vessels and then in the U.S. Navy. After seeing some of the world, he returned home in 1811 to marry Susan De Lancey, a woman from New York's social elite. The De Lancey's were Loyalists during the Revolution, and lost a lot of property with the British defeat. As a young married man, Cooper strove to overcome the meager resources of his own family, as well. He took up writing, apparently, on a challenge from his wife.
B. Author’s major works and awards
The leather stocking tales
C. The title and the genre of the selection which was assigned
Historical novel and Adventure fiction
D. Setting
Glimmerglass, in the New York colonies, near the Hudson River - 1740-1745
E. Characters
Natty Bumppo (Deerslayer) – the main character and honored man
Henry March – A frontiersman, a bounty hunter
Judith Hutter – Unmarried daughter of Thomas Hutter
Hetty Hutter – the adopted daughter
Chingachgook – the Indian guy that helps them
Thomas Hutter – the “Father” of the two girls
Rivenoak – the chief of the Hutton tribe
F. Brief summary of selection and its main points
The Deerslayer is an exciting story about the adventures of the woodsman known as Deerslayer and his Delaware Indian friend, Chingachgook. They meet at the lake to plot a rescue of Chingachgook’s betrothed, a Delaware girl who has been abducted by the hostile Huron Indians. Deerslayer has never been on the warpath before, and this is a test of his manhood. Deerslayer’s friend Hurry March, the grizzled old trapper Thomas Hutter, and his two daughters also make up this story.
G. Identify the author’s intent or purpose for the selection
Shows the violence and unpredictability of life in a place where only a few white hunters and hunting parties of Indians have ever set foot.
Sh6ws the relationship between the wilderness and civilization
Sh6ws the pristine life of nature and the impact being made on it by human beings
H. List any literary techniques,